Gundam Seed: Sorrow in the Shadows
by Kincadou Nou
Summary: After the fall of the Earth Alliance, all hope is lost. However, from the red face of Mars comes a chance. That chance is Sige Lunaris, a pilot of the Resistance. With him, he brings aces of the EA long thought dead. This is their story...
1. Prolog: Despair

Athrun Zala swerved his Infinite Justice Gundam away from the Destiny's anti-ship sword. Athrun kicked the Destiny away and fired off a salvo from his Gundam's beam cannons. The Infinite Justice drew its beam saber and charged towards the Destiny.

Inside the Destiny's cockpit, Shinn Asuka snarled in rage as the Justice charged. He blocked a beam saber slash with the Destiny's anti-ship sword. The two suit's broke apart, and the Destiny drew its beam cannon. "Die you peace loving Orb bastards!" Shinn fired several shots from the beam cannon, sending bursts of violent red and white energy streaking toward the Infinite Justice.

Athrun blocked behind the Justice's beam carry shield and drew his beam rifle. He charged forward again, a beam saber in one hand, beam rifle in the other. Shinn darted away and activated his Wings of Light. He zoomed toward Athrun, anti-ship sword ready to impale the Infinite Justice.

Athrun dodged and fired a salvo of beam fire at the Destiny. Shinn effortlessly dodged and whipped forward toward Athrun. Shinn slashed with is sword and caught Athrun in the right leg. The limb flew off into space, and Shinn closed in for the kill.

"Now you'll pay for everything traitor! You'll pay!" Shinn stabbed his sword into the Infinite Justice's backpack, causing it to explode.

Athrun jettisoned the backpack and slashed at Shinn with his beam saber. He sliced the Destiny's left hand off at the wrist. Athrun swung the saber in a backstroke and aimed at the Destiny's cockpit.

Shinn sneered inside the Destiny's cockpit and activated the Destiny's Palma Fiocona beam cannons and thrust the machine's hand in front of the Justice's beam saber. The beam cannon fired, deflecting the beam saber and damaging the Infinite Justice.

Athrun gasped as a scattering beam shot impacted on his mobile suit. The Justice's head flew away along with chunks of armor. The Destiny loomed in front of him like an angel of death. Shinn raised his anti-ship sword and brought it down on the Infinite Justice. With a shear of metal, the sword sliced through the Infinite Justice. The remains of the mobile suit ballooned to twice its size before exploding in a hurricane of fire and shrapnel.

Shinn turned the Destiny towards the looming pink shape of the Eternal. He activated the Destiny's Wings of Light and sped toward the battleship.

Kira Yamato zoomed towards the massive shape of the Messiah space fortress. His Strike Freedom Gundam, tucked away safely inside the METEOR support pack, was like an avenging angel. Kira had heard from Mu that Athrun was gone. Kira tightened his grip on the controls, gritting his teeth in anger. An amethyst Seed burst in his mind. His pupils dilated, and he charged forward with a roar, the METEOR's engines at full power.

Rey Za Burrul sensed the Strike Freedom's approach. He activated his Legend Gundam, preparing to intercept his enemy. He launched his Gundam from its perch on a section of the beam shield generator that encircled Messiah.

He pushed the Legend's thrusters to their brink, determined to intercept the incoming Strike Freedom. When he came within range, he deployed the 8 DRAGOON units from the Legend's massive backpack. The remote weapons spiraled outward, ready to rain death on their foes.

Only Kira's exceptional special awareness saved from the ambush set by the DRAGOON units. He swerved the METEOR wildly in an attempt to dodge the mass of beams that streaked toward him. The Legend reared up in front of him, rifle raised.

A beam shot from a DRAGOON pod pierced the METEOR's side, causing the hundreds of missiles inside its armored carapace to explode. The METEOR blew apart, sending the Freedom flying. The Freedom managed to regain its balance a moment before the DRAGOONs were upon him. Kira dodged wildly, looking for some escape.

Rey smirked and fired of several potshots from his beam rifle. The Freedom attempted in vain to dodge the multitudes of beams his DRAGOONs emitted. Suddenly, the Strike Freedom's wings spread and eight DRAGOON pods detached themselves from the main mobile suit. Rey, taken by surprise, momentarily lost control of his DRAGOONs.

Kira, taking advantage of the DRAGOON's lack of movement, destroyed several of them with his own DRAGOONs. The enemy DRAGOONs quickly resumed their barrage of beam fire, but now Kira had a chance. He dived and swerved, returning fire with his railguns, twin beam rifles, and DRAGOONs.

The DRAGOONs suddenly parted, and the Legend swooped down with a beam javelin in hand. Kira blocked with his beam shield and jetted away. He drew his beam sabers and met the Legend head on.

Beam saber and javelin clashed in an explosion of sparks. Rey cartwheeled over the Strike Freedom and brought the Legend's weapons to bear. He opened up with a firec salvo of beam fire. Kira quickly activated the Strike Freedom's beam shields, blocking the worst of the blast. Suddenly, two spike shaped DRAGOONs came flying at Kira, long beam sabers on their tips. Kira raised his shield to block them, but the slid through it easily. The two beam sabers sliced through the Strike Freedom's forearm and into the cockpit. With a flash the Strike Freedom exploded into a mass of shrapnel. Rey smirked as he saw a beaten and battered helmet floating in front of the Legend.

_After the battle of Messiah, ZAFT fired Neo-Genesis into the approaching Earth Alliance fleet. The weapon decimated the fleet. With Ptolmaneaus in ZAFT hands, and their fleet effectively destroyed, the EA withdrew the remainder of the their forces back to Earth._

_Within days, ZAFT began to drop large amounts of troops onto the planet. Though the Earth Alliance put up a valiant fight, their forces were too small to pose much of a threat. Within months, ZAFT forces completely occupied what was once the Earth Alliance. _

_After the Orb and Terminal fleets were destroyed at the battle of Messiah, Lady Cagalli of Orb sealed off the country's borders and steeped up production of mobile suits. ZAFT on several occasions to invade the sountry, only to have its forces pushed back._

_As Supreme Chairman Durandal imposed his Destiny plan on the human race, Naturals were treated like slaves. They were forced to do the most dangerous and meticulous work and thousands died from starvation, sickness, and hate crimes commited by Coordinators. _

_But, there was hope. In CE 79, a rebel group came from Mars. Consisting of fiver Girty Lue class battleships, and the new Dagger E, they were known as the Adepts. Now, they prepare to attack a ZAFT military installation._

--

Gilbert Durandal looked out over the large hangar of the ZAFT military installation of Solomon's Sword. It was ZAFT's second largest military base, next to Armory One, and was the testing ground for the new ZAKU II line. It was also the staging area of ZAFT's taskforce Jaeger, assembled to hunt down those pesky Martiian rebels.

He was currently waiting for Cagalli Yula Attha, ruler of Orb, to arrive. As she had done five years six years ago, she wanted to finalize a peace treaty with the PLANTs. He smiled as hes aw the familiar form of the Kusanagi II gliding towards the hangar. "Rey, move the Manticor and Hydra teams into position. The Lion has entered the den."

Twelve of the new ZAKU IIs shot out to meet the shuttle and act as an escort. They moved into position beside the DOM Troopers alreadfy escorting the ship. Gilbet snarled at the purple and black mobile suits. They were based on stolen designs from ZAFT. One of these days Gilbert thought, he would have to seek out and destroy Terminal.

The Kusanagi II landed and an honor guard of Orb soldiers escorted Attha into the crowded and busslying hangar. He descended the escalator the connected the docks of the hangar to the control tower and various other structures vital to safe transport.

"Ah, Lady Cagalli. I hope you were not offended by the additional escorts. With all these rebels running around, you can't be too careful." As Gilbert spoke, he sized up Attha. She was taller and carried her self with more confidence than he remembered. She wore the blue and white uniform of the ambassador of Orb, though Gilbert would've thought a dress would've been more appropriate.

She glared at him with fierce brown eyes, replying, "Supreme Cahirman Durandal, I thank you for the escort you sent. You are right, you can't be too careful. Now, on to business. Why are you still investing in more and more powerful mobile suits? Haven't you beaten the people of Earth deep enough into the ground?" Cagalli also took the chance to look over Gilbert. Durandal was tall, with streaks of grey in his jet black hair. He carried himself with the overblown confidence that suiuted the supreme leader of the PLANTs.

Beside Gilbert, a young blonde spoke up. "Lord Durandal feels the need to create more mobile suits because they are rebels who wish to undermine his authority!" Gilbert threw him a fatherly look and spoke quietly, "Rey, calm down. I'll handle this," he turned his attention to Cagalli, " If you desire peace, prepare for war. As of now, I am preparing a Taskforce to hunt down a group of rebels known as the Adepts. This base is the staging area."

Secretly, Cagalli hoped those Martian rebels would attack and defeat ZAFT. Openly she said, "Of course Chairman Durandal. As long as there are those that wish to threaten he peace you have worked to esrtablish, you will have to fight back."

Two cloaked Girty Lue class ships slowly approached Solomon's Sword. One of the ships launched a small escape pod. The pod, too small to be detected, sailed towards a small acess shaft. Two retro rockets fired and the pod's hatch popped open. Five silhouttes emerged and fired their jetpacks towards the shaft. The lead figure, a young man of about 19 years old with dark purple hair and crystal blue eyes smiled in anticipation.

Author's note: And so ends the prolog of Gundam Seed: Sorrow in the Shadows. This has been given life in the form of various other fanfics, but none have lasted that long. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish this one.

As to my reasoning for writing this. I think that 98 of all the stuff in the Seed section sucks. It all just someone inserting a Gary STue character(Solid Shark, I'm looking at you) or some horny otaku's fantasy. I'm going to fix this. If anyone has any question's, suggestions, requests, or death threats, let me know. I'll accept any kind of review, but if you flame I'll dflame back. Try to keep your comments constructive though. Oh, if you read my fic, have the balls to leave a review.

Kincadou Nou


	2. Chapter One: Movement

**CHAPTER ONE: Movement**

The five black silhouettes alighted inside the small access shaft that lead into the interior of ZAFT's Solomon's Sword installation. The lead figure, Sige Lunaris, unslung a rifle from his shoulder and prepped the built-in grenade launcher. He pulled the trigger and the high explosive round impacted on the thick steel hatch.

"Alright, let's head out," Sige said as he gestured at the large hole were the hatch had been. The four other men moved into position, rifles at the ready, "You all know our objectives. Move in and discreetly make your way towards the hangar were the Gundams are kept. Move out."

The four specially trained black ops soldiers saluted and moved on into the maze of service ways that criss-crossed every colony's outer shell. Sige pulled a PDA out of the jetpack's storage compartment. He activated a digital map and surveyed the area around himself. It seemed that there was a mobile suit testing facility just in front of him. He replaced the PDA back into the storage compartment and took off down a winding corridor.

Sige made his way to the exit of the access shaft. He was on an artificial cliff face overlooking a large field covered in what looked like target dummies. He activated his jetpack and glided down. Below him was a large hangar. Two large doors on its side opened up and a pale green mobile suit stepped out.

Sige alighted on another artificial cliff below the one he had been on. The mobile suit stepped out towards the test field. It was the same color green as the ZAKU, but with several major differences. Instead of a shoulder mounted shield, this one had a shield that covered its entire left arm. –Is that a beam shield emitter?- Sige wondered as he saw the golden rectangle on the mobile suit's large shield.

The mobile suit took several steps forward and raised its shield. There was a flash of energy and a red and white beam emerged from the shield. The beam destroyed several target dummies, which Sige noticed looked like Windams. The mobile suit again took several steps forward and a hatch popped out from its shield. The suit took out a beam axe and began to slice at several dummies with it.

Sige watched the mobile suit destroy all of the dummies on the field and return to the hangar. He activated the jetpack and glided down onto the grounds outside the hangar. He darted behind a tree to avoid a passing jeep with three ZAFT soldiers in it.

-+-

Cagalli watched the testing of ZAFT's new ZAKU II as it completely wiped out a field full of test dummies. "Durandal, it is impressive, but why build more? You're GOUFs and ZAKUs are doing fine."

Durandal turned to her, a flicker of annoyance flashing across his face. "Why, Lady Cagalli, we can't rely on outdated machines to keep the peace. As long as ZAFT maintains a strong military there is no cause for war."

"But Chairman,"Cagalli countered, "Why not give the people of Earth their freedom? Surely then there would be no possibility of conflict?" Out of the corner of her eye, Cagalli thought she saw movement on the artificial cliffs next to the hangar. She dismissed it as a trick her eyes were playing on her.

"Lady Cagalli, when will you realize that the people of Earth are and always will be anti-Coordinator," Gilbert began, " With the exception of those like yourself, most natural's would give anything to see all Coordinators just die out. These new mobile suits will prevent that."

As Durandal spoke, the blond haired young man who had spoken out earlier approached Durandal. He whispered something in his ear and Durandal whispered something back. The man, who Gilbert had called Rey, pulled out a pistol from his uniform and quickly ran down the corridor that connected the rest of the testing hangar to this observation room.

"What was that all about Chairman?" Cagalli questioned. She again thought she noticed movement on the grounds next to the hangar, and this time thought someone was there. Gilbert followed her glance and with a wave of his hand several of his bodyguards departed down the same corridor Rey had gone down.

"Lady Cagalli," Gilbert began, "It is nothing but a minor disturbance. Now, I have something to show you." Gilbert motioned to the group of technicians and engineers monitoring the ZAKU II's test data.

-+-

Rey hoped into a jeep with two other soldiers and barked an order at them. "Quickly, get to Hangar 7." The driver saluted and stepped on the gas. The jeep teared away down the roadway that connected the entire complex.

The jeep peeled down the road, only coming to a stop outside a large barbed wire fence that encircled a heavily guarded complex. Rey jumped out of the jeep and ran into the complex.

As soon as he entered, several bursts of gunfire emerged from inside the hangar. Gripping his pistol, Rey and the other guards ran inside the hangar.

Inside was a seen of carnage. Four blacked clothed assailants had dispatched the entire squad of soldiers inside. They opened fire on Rey and the remaining guards as soon as they burst in.

Rey cart wheeled out of the way, but several of the guards were cut down. He returned fire with his pistol and was rewarded when one of the attackers dropped his gun and clutched his right arm. He fired of several more shots, but the assailants' body armor stopped the small caliber pistol.

He noticed the body of a dead guard lying on the floor near him and snatched up his fallen assault rifle. Rey swung it up and opened fire. He managed to hit one of the attackers in the head and another in the thigh.

Rey jumped out of the way of the returned fire and prepped the rifle's grenade launcher. He fired the grenade into his assailants'' formation, but they scattered out of the way. He crouched behind a tarp-covered mobile suit, and listened to the bullets pinging of the armored frame of his cover.

He jumped up and fired off a long burst, catching two of his attackers dead center on he chest. With only one enemy left, Rey went on the offensive. He cart wheeled over his attacker's line of fire and landed beside him. He fired a point blank burst of his assault rifle into his attacker's body, ripping it to shreds.

Rey made his way outside the hangar, covered in blood, he found the jeep were he left it. He started the engine and headed back to were Gilbert was to make his report.

-+-

Sige made his way slowly towards the entrance to the hangar were they had tested that new mobile suit. He crouched behind several crates of what he assumed were full of ammunition. He popped out and gunned down the several guards in front of the entrance.

Knowing that his cover was blown, Sige ran inside the building, gunning down anyone in his way. He ran down a corridor that lead into a large hangar were the ZAKU II from earlier was being examined. Several soldiers turned and began firing at him.

Sige dodged and hide behind a mobile suit covered in tarp. He took several grenades from the bandoleers on his shoulders and tossed them towards the guards. He was rewarded with the agonized screams of his dying enemies.

He burst from his cover and laid down several burst of suppression fire. He pulled a signal device from his belt and thumbed the activation button.

-+-

Two cloaked Girty Lue class ships lurked outside of Solomon's Sword. On board on, Captain Neo Roanoke smiled as Sige's signal reached the ship, the Croatian. He signaled Chief Mechanic Murdoch to launch the Dagger Es.

The Croatian's catapults opened up and six of the black and grey Dagger Es poured forth. Two were equipped with the Dopplehorn striker pack, while the rest had ISWP packs.

The Dagger Es activated their Mirage Colloid cloaking systems and sped towards the colony. They Dagger Es were the most powerful Dagger variants yet. Armed with two beam sabers, two missile launchers, two CIWS, and the ability to equip any Striker pack ever built, they were the rebel's weapon of choice.

-+-

Cagalli started at the sound of gunfire, and threw a questioning look at Durandal. "Chairman, what the hell is going on?" She knew she needed to look fearless in front of Durandal, but inside, Cagalli was filled with fear.

"Lady Cagalli, I assure you that no harm will come to you." Gilbert dispatched the large group of guards that had been guarding the two officials. They hurried towards the sound of the commotion.

"Now, Lady Cagalli, I suggest that we make our way to a safe facility." Gilbert began walking down the corridor and Cagalli hesitantly followed him.

-+-

Sige heard the sound of the guards coming towards the hangar. He figured he couldn't take them all and looked around for some means of escape. His eyes fell on the tarp covered mobile suit.

He swiftly pulled of the tarp, which was surprisingly light, and climbed up onto the mobile suit. It was white and dark blue, with red and yellow details. What surprised Sige the most was the V-fin that sat on the suit's head. "A Gundam unit? No way."

Several rounds pinged of the Gundam's armor, just below were Sige's feet were. "Oh screw it!" Sige jumped into the machine's cockpit and activated it.

Author's Note: So, there's chapter one. First, I would like to thank Athrya and NaraOccult for being the _only_ people to review the prolog. Thanks a bunch guys, hope you like Chapter One.

I'd like to go ahead and say that you should expect a lot of differences from what you would expect from a normal Seed fic. Also, you should be happy to note that this time the chapter has been beta read (thank my brother) and grammar checked.

Now, I hate repeating myself, but HAVE THE GUTS/BALLS/NERVE TO LEAVE A REVIEW! Only two reviews and 83 hits is pathetic. Now, for the time being, I take my leave of you.


	3. Chapter Two: Escape from Solomon's Sword

**CAHPTER TWO: ESCAPE FROM SOLOMON'S SWORD **

**_CE 73, Battle of Messiah_**

_The Eternal shuddered as the ZGMF-X42S Destiny deposited two beam cannon rounds into the ship's hull. Lacus Clyne, leader of the Three Ships Alliance, gritted her teeth in anger. Beside her, Andrew Waltfield ordered the frightened bridge crew to respond. _

_The Destiny, its Wings of Light flaring out behind it, descended in front of the bridge. Lacus balled her gentle hand into a fist. "If he is going to kill us, he might as well get it over with. Why is this guy so melodramatic?" inquired Andrew as the Destiny raised its anti-ship sword. _

_Lacus closed her eyes, waiting to be sent to the endless abyss. The Destiny brought its sword down towards the bridge and time seemed to slow. And then, with a flash of gold, Mu La Flaga and his Akatsuki rammed the Destiny. _

_The ZAFT machine's sword went flying away, lodging itself in an Alliance ship that had drifted too close for comfort. Mu snarled and deployed his seven Remote Turrets from his Akatsuki's Shiranu backpack. _

_The Turrets spiraled outward, firing a mass of beams at the enemy machine. Inside the Destiny, a blood red Seed exploded in front of Shinn Asuka's eyes. He roared and ducked behind the Destiny's beam shield, blocking the beam barrage. _

_Shinn returned fire with his beam rifle, but the shots only reflected off the golden Akatsuki's beam reflective armor. Shinn snarled in annoyance and threw his left beam boomerang at the golden mobile suit. _

_Mu dodged and fired with his rifle and Turrets, smiling as the Destiny's right leg was blown off. However, the boomerang made its return sweep and sliced off the Akatsuki's left arm, taking Mu's shield with it. _

_Shinn caught the boomerang and drew his second. He thumbed a switch and the boomerangs' blades lengthened into beam sabers. Shinn closed in; confident he had this annoying machine at bay. _

_Mu drew his beam naginata, readying himself for a fight. His Turrets spiraled in from all directions, hoping to stop this angel of death from getting at the mother unit, the Shiranu backpack. _

_The Destiny dodged and flew away from the maze of beams, somehow managing to get next to the Akatsuki. He swung out with his sabers and severely damaged the Akatsuki. Mu gritted his teeth and tried to fight back, but the damage was done. _

_**CE 79, just outside the Solomon's Sword military installation **_

Neo snapped out of his memories. He turned to the figure next to him. "Sven, why don't you go out there and make sure Sige doesn't get himself killed. We need that prototype."

Sven nodded. "Yes sir. You won't be disappointed. I'll bring him back." Sven saluted, turned, and walked off the bridge. He took the elevator down to the hangar and climbed into the cockpit of his battle scarred Strike Noir. "Alright old friend, let's go," Sven said as the Noir was propelled into space.

Three Dagger Es were engaged in a dogfight with several ZAFT GOUFs and ZAKUs. Two were handling themselves well in their IWSP equipped Daggers, while the third was barely holding them off. The Dopplehorn severely limited the Dagger's mobility, and the ZAFT suits were taking advantage off it.

Sven swooped down as the GOUF brought its four-barreled beam gun to bear. Sven brought his left leg up and fired the Noir's grappling wire at the GOUF's arm. It lodged inside the elbow joint and Sven pulled his leg back. The arm came sailing away and Sven shot the GOUF down to pieces with his beam pistols.

Sven used his Noir Striker's railguns to provide covering fire while the two Dagger E's moved in with their anti-ship swords. They cut the ZAKUs to pieces and radioed their thanks to Sven. He replied," It was nothing. I just can't stand to see good soldiers go to waste."

The mobile suits fought their way deeper into the colony, eventually forming up with the other Dagger Es. The two with the Dopplehorn Strikers were sheltered in the middle, with Sven and his Noir protecting them.

-+-

Sige was having a bit of a crisis. Here he was, in an activated, prototype mobile suit, with a bunch of guards shooting at him. He'd never even piloted a mobile suit before! All he'd had was the basic training every recruit of the Adepts got, and Sige had barely passed the tests.

The mobile suit automatically stood up, causing the guards to back off as it took an experimental step forward to balance itself. The machine had enlarged shoulder armor, each with a sort of emitter on the edge near the head. Its V-fin was long and stretched out almost all the way from head to shoulder, in fact, they were almost horizontal. Its overall armor placement was similar to the Astrays of Orb, but thicker and they covered a larger portion of the suit.

Sige kept his lunch down and tried maneuvering the machine around. It stumbled forward, only saved by its auto-balancing system. How was he going to get out of this?

-+-

Gilbert listened to the sounds of battle that wracked Solomon's Sword. Turning to Cagalli, he said, "My lady, this place is not safe. Please, follow me to my personal bunker. You will be protected there."

Cagalli stiffened. Why did Durandal want her to come with him so badly? She replied as best she could. "Chairman Durandal, I would prefer to return to my ship. We could provide support to your forces."

An expression flitted across Durandal's face. What was he planning? He sighed. "Very well, Lady Cagalli. You leave me no choice." He pulled a pistol from his robes. Cagalli, turned to run, but Durandal pulled the trigger. A tranquilizer dart embedded itself between her shoulder blades. He motioned to two returning guards. One picked her up, while the other reported what had happened.

Durandal's mask of control shattered. "What! The rebels have gotten to the Sparrow? You idiot!" Durandal punched the guard in the face, sending him sprawling. He and the other guard headed outside and commandeered a jeep. They slung a half-conscious Cagalli in the back and went on their way towards the flagship of Taskforce Jaeger, the Neo-Nazca class Jotunheim.

-+-

Sige threw the controls to the left to dodge a torrent of beam fire from a group of mobile suits. The Gundam type's sensitive controls caused the suit to crash into a building. Sige picked himself up and had to duck behind a large building to give himself cover from a barrage of fire. The Gundam was covered in dents and scorch marks. Sige wasn't an actual pilot, after all.

He ran out from behind cover, but tripped over a thick series of power lines. As he fell down, a jeep attempted to swerve out of the way. The suit's elbow scraped against a structure, causing rubble to tumble down into the street.

-+-

The driver of the jeep swerved left and right to avoid the captured Sparrow model and the rubble that fell from the building. A piece of concrete that weighed at least two tons clipped the back of the jeep. It went flying through the air, landing in a heap near the entrance to the space port.

The driver had been crushed by the jeep's wreckage, but Durandal and Cagalli were thrown clear. Gilbert felt a sharp pain race up from his left leg. His bone was sticking out of the skin. His robes were stained from blood, and Gilbert had countless small cuts and bruises.

The pain from the rough landing had brought Cagalli back to her senses. She staggered upright and ran off towards the spaceport. Gilbert reached for his tranquilizer gun, but it wasn't there. He looked around and saw it lying across the street from him. He pulled himself over to the gun and picked it up, but Cagalli was long gone.

-+-

In the spaceport, chaos reigned. The DOMs that had accompanied the Kusanagi were trying to defend themselves from both Dagger Es and confused ZAFT soldiers. As Cagalli ran towards the boarding ramp, a group of heavily armed soldiers led by Kisato charged down the boarding platform. They surrounded Cagalli and quickly led her back into the armored safety of the Kusanagi's hull. Within moments, the graceful blue ship activated its powerful engines and escaped from the carnage that engulfed the base.

-+-

Sige stumbled along, trying to find support from the Dagger E teams. The captured mobile suit was beaten and scarred from Sige's horrendous piloting abilities. He stumbled behind yet another building, looking about for any sign of support. Then, out of an explosion on the artificial cliff, the shape of Sven's Strike Noir and several Dagger Es appeared.

-+-

Sven gunned down several more ZAKUs and signaled for the Dopplehorns to start a barrage on he ZAFT forces. He drew his twin anti-ship blades and set to work hacking apart the GOUFs and ZAKUs.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sven saw a formation of new suits closing on his position. The rebel pilots turned to face this new threat, but Sven was shocked to see that they were radically different designs from any ZAFT mobile suit he'd fought before.

They each had a large shield over their arms, a beam rifle in one hand, and Blaze packs on their backs. They fired of a swarm of missiles and Sven descended to the cover of the buildings to avoid them. His ISWP Dagger units fired into the swarm with their shield Gatlings, taking out most of them. The rest slammed into the cliff face without causing any damage.

Sven jumped up to meet them, eager to try out this new foe. He slashed at one, figuring that they had no close combat weapons. To his surprise, it lifted its shield and a large beam saber emerged from the tip. It batted aside Sven's attack and countered with a slash of its own.

Sven backed off and fired a salvo of his railguns. The shells streaked towards the enemy mobile suit, but it lifted its shield arm and a beam shield sprang into existence. Whatever these new mobile suits were, they were highly effective.

All around Sven, his Daggers were in separate dogfights with this new enemy. The skill of the pilots was the only thing keeping them alive. As Sven swiped at his enemy, he noticed another new model on the ground below.

Unlike the mobile suit he was fighting now, this one was distinctly Gundam-like. From its looks, this was one of the prototypes the special forces team was trying to capture. Judging by its beat-up appearance, things hadn't gone to plan.

On an open channel, Sven called to the unit. "Who's piloting that mobile suit? If you're a rebel, come with us." After a short pause, Sven saw the face of Sige Lunaris on his screen. "Sige! What the hell! You're not supposed to be flying that thing. What happened to the special ops team?"

Sige shrugged and explained his situation. "The special ops team must have been killed off. I think we might as well cut and run." Sven nodded and ordered the Dagger Es to disengage and protect the captured mobile suit. They formed a protective phalanx around the Noir and captured Gundam and set off at once for the extraction point.

Several squads of mobile suits rose to engage, but a swift hail of concentrated gunfire cut them down. The retinue escaped from the base and managed to get back to the Croatian and its sister ship, the Mohawk.

Once onboard, Sige gladly stepped out of the badly damaged Gundam unit. An angry Sven, as well as an even angrier Neo, met him on the hangar floor. Neo was the first to speak. "Sige Lunaris, what the hell were you thinking? Your orders were to defend the special forces team at all costs while they secured the prototypes. And what do you do? You let them get killed and decide to take the –X13 for a fucking joy ride. You, who I might add, have less than ten hours flight time!" Neo punched the beleaguered soldier in the jaw. There was sharp crack and Sige dropped to the floor.

When he staggered to his feet, blood dribbled from his nose and mouth. He tried to explain, but Neo silenced him with a wave of his hand. "Don't bother trying to explain. I'm sure at the time it seemed like a smart thing to do. However, you did fail to follow my orders, and as such you will be held in the brig for a week with basic water and bread rations. Thanks to you, we'll have to use valuable spare parts to repair this Gundam. It could've been avoided if you'd have followed orders."

Neo motioned to Murdoch and outlined what they had to do. Anger and annoyance crossed his face, but he begrudgingly said he would get to work on it. He gave Sige a look that chilled him to the core, and stalked off. Neo nodded to Sven, who then escorted Sige to the brig.

-+-

In the smoking wreckage of Solomon's Sword's spaceport, seven Neo-Nazca classes sailed into the darkness of space. In the center of the formation, the ship Jotunheim cruised steadily onward. Inside a dark chamber in the center of the ship, Gilbert stared at two figures standing at rigid attention.

The first wore the uniform of a ZAFT Redcoat elite, while the second had a bloodstained white commander's uniform. Gilbert addressed the Recoat first. "Lt. Amos Shrike, you have been chosen as Cmdr. Rey Za Burrell's assistant. You have proven yourself worthy of this title by ranking first in all of your classes for the entire five years you have attended ZAFT Military Academy. You have been designated the pilot of the ZGMF-X13N Sparrow Gundam, Unit-02. Your primary mission, aside from assisting Cmdr. Burrell, is to hunt down and capture or destroy the stolen Sparrow Unit. Understand?"

The figure nodded and saluted. Gilbert dismissed him and turned his attention to Rey. "I know what you're thinking. Why didn't I just recall the Minerva back from its duties in the asteroid belt? Why didn't I just place our little knight, Shinn, at your disposal? Why did I give you command of a Lieutenant fresh out of the academy? He has potential. Besides, my knights require steeds. And your steeds have yet to be completed." Gilbert closed a file of schematics and opened a drawer. He took out a bottle of pills and tossed them to Rey. "Those should help with the attacks. Remember Rey, you stay devoted to me, and I ensure that Rau's dream comes to fruitition."

-+-+-+-

Author's Note: Well, I finally got Chapter Two written. I apologize to my loyal and faithful friends and critics for not updating in months. It's been rather hectic for me. Still, just keep checking back for updates, and I promise that I'll keep posting chapters.

Now, for all you jerks who have profiles but haven't reviewed my story yet, what are you waiting for? I want my writing to get better, and if only seven people review my story, that's not gonna happen! Come on, I don't care if its just five words, but leave a freaking review.

Now, I take my leave of you. Until the next chapter, see ya!


	4. Chapter Three: Into the Debris Belt!

**CHAPTER THREE: INTO THE DEBRIS BELT**

Sven shoved Sige into a cell, causing him to stumble and land against the hard steel wall. Sige picked himself up and slumped against the wall. This was what he got for wrecking the prototype. Captain Roanoke ran a strict chip, and Sige knew he was getting what he deserved. He gave Sven, one of his buddies, a quick smile. "See you in a week, man."

Sven nodded and said, "You're lucky. Roanoke was pretty pissed off. I gotta go; the guards are coming to make sure you're secure." Sven turned and walked back towards the entrance to the brig.

As Sige sat in the darkness, he remembered the feeling he had when he was flying that mobile suit. Even though he was getting his ass handed to him by ZAFT soldiers, Sige had felt like he was invincible in that mobile suit. He had to pilot one again.

-+-

Sven walked into the hangar, eager to see how Murdoch and his crew had repaired the stolen ZAFT prototype. There it stood in the center of the hangar, still covered with mechanics working on the finishing touches. The differences were surprising. The original had been blue and white, with yellow details. This one was red, black, white, and gray. The original had had boxy arms and legs that jutted out were the armor plates ended, with the head having a beak-like sensor with a V-fin. This modified version had thinner arms and legs, a more traditional Gundam-style head.

Murdoch and Neo walked over to Sven, and the Chief Mechanic explained things to Sven. "We had to do a lot of work to get this thing ship-shape again. First, most of the armor was removed and replaced with more thrusters, meaning that it's more maneuverable than the original. We also had to remove the forearm beam sabers and pistols and replace them with beam shields. For all the things we had to remove, we did manage to add on some things. It now shares the backpack of the Daggers, so it'll be more versatile than the original model."

Neo dismissed Murdoch and said to Sven, "I'll be piloting this machine. It's been far too long since I was last in the cockpit of a mobile suit. However, that's not what I need to talk to you about. We've been running from Solomon for three days now, and we can't hide from ZAFT in open space. This Taskforce Jaeger will already be in pursuit. Therefore, we need a place to hide. Any suggestions?"

Sven thought for a moment, before coming to a conclusion. "What if we were to head into the debris belt, and then descend to Orb? We'd be sure to escape from ZAFT in there."

Neo thought about it for a moment before he replied, "True, we would escape ZAFT, but no one has ever successfully navigated the debris belt at the speed we'll be going. We'll need to be on Earth in four days to escape from that fleet ZAFT had sent after us. Of course, there is a first time for everything." Neo turned and walked away towards the elevator to the bridge, leaving a baffled Sven behind.

Sven kicked off the floor and went looking for Selene. She had to be around here somewhere.

-+-

Amos Shrike waited patiently outside the door of Cmdr. Burrell's quarters. He had been ordered to be there everyday at 6:00 AM to report for duty. The hydraulic door slide open and Amos saluted quickly. Rey nodded and Amos stood at attention. "Lt. Amos Shrike reporting for duty, sir."

Rey looked Amos over. The young Lt. was tall with the build of an athlete. Thick blonde hair that fell to his eyebrows was neatly brushed and parted. He had deep, murky green eyes that somehow reminded Rey of Shinn. The Cmdr. waved his hand, and Amos fell into line behind him as they traveled to the simulator room.

"I assume that you have no prior experience piloting the Sparrow?" Amos shook his head. "I thought so. Well then, you'll drill four five hours straight everyday until you master the suit."

-+-

Sven alighted outside an office in the hangar. He poked his head in and saw Selene working at her computer. He sneaked behind her and cupped his hands over her eyes. "Peeka-Boo, Guess Who," he said in a loving voice.

Selene removed his hands and kissed them gently. "I heard about Sige," she says as stands to embrace her boyfriend. "Neo would never have done that before the raid. He's acting weird. Do you think that being so close to Earth has got something to do with it?"

Sven shrugged his shoulders. "Neo has been acting strangely lately. He seems to be in constant pain. Its almost like being this close to ZAFT hurts him."

Selene thought for a moment, then said, "I bet it's because he still misses Murrue. He seemed to be over her, but I guess coming back has dug up old feelings."

Sven grunted. He wasn't any good at reading people. "I guess. But, he could just be constipated."

-+-

Neo sat behind his desk, watching as lines of text scrolled down his computer screen. The other commanders wanted him to get back to Mars. Those impatient old crones, thought Neo, they're so used to getting what they want that they won't listen to reason.

The command structure of the Adepts, or they're real name, the Adeptus Astartes, was based around the five Girty Lues that made up the fleet. Each of the captains of those ships reported to a singular commander back on Mars, Joseph Aquiline. The captains of the ships were after him, and then it descended into rank and file. It was complicated, but if the majority of captains wanted something to happen, it happened.

And now, Neo was in a pickle. The other commanders were outraged that he'd allowed the ZAFT prototype to be so severely damaged. He had only one other ally, and that was Captain Wolf Ritter, commander of the Girty-Lue class Mohawk, the ship that had accompanied the Croatian on its raid.

-+-

The door to the bridge of the Mohawk slid open with a hiss. A black uniformed figure strode out and took his position in the captain's chair. Captain Wolf Ritter settled into his chair with his characteristic slouch. He nonchalantly brushed his long hair out of his face and tried to remember why he was here.

Wolf was a young man of about twenty-four, with dark emerald eyes and black hair streaked with royal blue. His right arm and both legs were cyborg prosthetics, given to him when his mobile suit was destroyed during the last war. That same incident had covered him with brutal scars, most noticeably the one that went from his mouth to ear.

"Ensign Uzuki, where are we exactly?" asked Wolf as he pointed to the young navigational officer. Ensign Mayu Uzuki turned and gave him the coordinates. "Sir, we're about seven hours from the debris belt. It appears that that is where the Croatian is heading."

Wolf smiled. So, Neo was going to lose ZAFT in the orbital debris belt that surrounded Earth, was he? That was a tactic worthy of Wolf himself. Turning to the communications officer, Wolf ordered, "Get me a line through to Captain Roanoke."

-+-

Chairman Durandal strapped himself into his personal shuttle. In a few moments, it launched from the hangar of the Neo-Nazca class Jotunheim and headed for the PLANTS. As the shuttle powered away from the much larger warships, Durandal opened up a word-processor and began typing on his computer. After the fiasco at Solomon, he'd have to make a damn good apology for the so-call "Lion of Orb."

-+-

Sige leaned against the wall of his small cell and tore a bite from the biscuit that the guards had given him. He had to admit, being in the brig wasn't that bad. He got fairly good meals and the cot in the corner was more comfortable than it appeared.

Sige had been in this cell for the past two days, meaning he was seriously bored. He'd heard something about how they were in the debris belt from the guards, but nothing substantial.

All the young man could think about was piloting another mobile suit. So, he kept the little piece of metal with him at all times.

-+-

Rey smirked as the Taskforce caught up with the two fleeing rebel ships. The ZAKU IIs and Amos had already launched, and where closing rapidly. He would've gone himself, but why waste his time on weaklings?

The rebels had launched their own pathetic mobile suit forces and were moving to engage. Those rebel mobile suits were bothersome, but nothing the ZAFT units couldn't handle.

-+-

Sven hurtled out into space in his Strike Noir. He was geared and ready for battle, his orders being to hold off the ZAFT units until the ships were safely into the debris belt. He readied his beam pistols and got ready for a showdown.

He quickly counted the number of ZAFT forces. Ten of those upgraded ZAKU types, and what looked like a second Gundam-type. Beside him, Mu was in the modified Sparrow. He'd equipped it with an old Gunbarrel striker, so Sven was eager to see how well he preformed.

So, he thought, eleven ZAFT suits to seven Daggers and our Gundams? If only Gomez didn't have a broken leg, we could get that last Dagger out.

-+-+-+-

Author's Note: And so ends the third chapter of Sorrow in the Shadows. I can't do anything about these erratic updates, as I can't sit down and write a chapter that often. Deal with it. In the meantime, leave a review and visit my new forums. Peace out.


	5. Chapter 4: First Flight

Chapter Four: First Flight

Sige sat down in his cell. From the alarms that had sounded a few minutes ago, the ship was about to enter combat with ZAFT forces. He was ready to make his move and get out, but there were still the guards to deal with. As soon as they left, Sige would make his move and escape the cell.

In the meantime, he leaned back against his cell and listened to the sounds of battle that echoed down the halls as the Croatian and Mohawk mobile suit teams engaged the enemy.

-+-

Sven boosted over a salvo of beam fire and cut down two enemy ZAKU IIs with his beam pistols. He dodged another salvo of fire and used his grappling hooks to drag another one in, where he blew it apart with two blasts of his pistols.

He holstered his pistols and drew his anti-ship swords. Moving in, he cut one of the ZAFT suits apart and blocked a beam saber stab. He sliced off the arm of one, and moved back under the cover of a salvo of rail cannon fire.

He kept up a barrage of high explosive rounds, and took out the last of the ZAKU IIs currently engaging him. Sven turned and went off to seek out new opponents.

-+-

Meanwhile, Mu was busy fighting off three ZAKU IIs and the Sparrow unit ZAFT had retained possession of. He blocked a blast of beam cannon energy and sent his Gunbarrels to take out the ZAKU that had fired the blast. The four remote weapons quickly cut the enemy machine to pieces with their railguns. Mu fired his rifle at the Sparrow, which easily blocked the shots with its beam shields.

Mu skirted to the side and dodged a beam rifle shot from the opposing machine, while at the same time dispatching a ZAKU with his Gunbarrels. The wired weapons then moved in on the remaining ZAKU II and took it out. Now, Mu focused all of his weaponry on the Sparrow.

The enemy pilot was good, weaving through weapons fire with ease. Mu recalled his Gunbarrels and used the extra thrust to get behind his opponent. He let loose with his beam rifle, firing three shots before his momentum carried him away from his target.

The Sparrow blocked the shots with its beam shield and returned fire with its beam rifle. Mu spiraled out of the way and drew a beam saber. He slashed at his enemy and was rewarded when he cut off the machine's left hand at the wrist.

Mu then ducked behind his shield as the Sparrow began to violently strike at him with its beam sabers, pushing him back.

-+-

Wolf pulled his anti-ship sword out of a ZAKU II and used his beam boomerang to destroy another two. The shield mounted gatling caused the last of the group to take cover behind its arm shield, and another Dagger E got behind it and filled it with lead from its railguns.

Wolf and the other three Daggers he'd been fighting alongside re-grouped and headed off towards the enemy ships. When in range, the four IWSP-equipped mobile suits fired their railguns and gatlings and a single Neo-Nazca class. The eight shells and countless armor piercing bullets wrecked havoc on the front of the ship, tearing apart its launch catapult and blowing apart its bridge.

Wolf moved in with his anti-ship sword and sliced a long wound into the side of the ship before pouring railgun fire into the engine block. This combined firepower, as well as the exploding engine, tore the enemy ship apart. Wolf leaned back in his seat and let out a triumphant sigh. "Well boys," he said over the radio, "let ZAFT suck on that."

-+-

After the destruction of the ZAFT ship, Captain Endrei Lagosse, captain of the Jotunheim, ordered the mobile suits to withdraw and the ships to disengage. He wouldn't allow any more ships to be lost. Unfortunately, he'd probably have to deal with Cmdr. Burrell's anger.

_Speak of the devil_, Endrei thought as the bridge door hissed open and Cmdr. Burrell stepped into the bridge. The commander's anger was clear. "Why did you recall our mobile suits? We could've ended this today! They've escaped into the shelter of the debris belt by now," he said in that cold rage that often seemed to grip him.

Endrei sighed and replied, "We lost a ship Cmdr., as well as a dozen ZAKUs. I didn't see a victory in sight, and as such I ordered us to withdraw. That was my tactical decision." Endrei gave Rey a look that said, "Don't try to order me about in front of my crew."

Rey seemed to get the hint and, with one last look of scorn, left the bridge. Endrei sank into his captain's chair, wondering about the consequences of his actions. Normally, a captain outranked a commander as long as they were on the captain's ship. However, Burrell was in Durandal's favor, and disobeying him might invite the wrath of the ruler of the PLANTS. Still, all Endrei could do now was wait and see what would happen.

-+-

Mu walked onto the bridge and went straight for the map table that sat in one corner of the bridge. Already gathered around it were Sven, Selene, Murdoch, as well as Wolf Ritter, captain of the Mohawk, the Croatian's sister ship.

"Alright everyone, you know why you're here. We've safely made it into the debris belt, now where do we go from here?" Mu looked at each one, waiting for them to come up with an idea.

Wolf spoke up first. "Well, since we're trying to get away from the taskforce that's been following us, I say we head to Earth. I don't think they'll follow us down there, as they could just order whatever ground troops are in the area to come and get us. So, what do you guys think?"

Wolf's idea was met with general approval and it was decided that the two ships should descend to Earth. "Now," said Mu, "where do we go from there? Where should we land?"

This time it was Sven who spoke up. "Well, the way I see it, we have only two choices. Central Eurasia or the Atlantic. Those are the only two areas where we could descend without getting shot down by ZAFT air-defenses. Central Eurasia is a hotbed of anti-ZAFT sentiment, so we'd find some friends there, but it's surrounded by three huge ZAFT bases. As for the Atlantic, we'd have to land in the exact center of the ocean, so we could avoid anti-air missile strikes. Of course, who's to say that we won't run into a ZAFT fleet making its way across the Atlantic? Really, either way it's all about chance."

Mu nodded and said, "Well, who votes for the Atlantic?" Only Murdoch's hand went up. "Then it's decided. We head down to Eurasia."

-+-

A guard came and unlocked Sige's cell. "You're being let out for good behavior. Well, that's the official reason anyway. The real reason you're getting out is because Cmdr. Roanoke calmed down and Sven did some sweet talking."

Sige laughed and headed towards the hangar. That's were they kept the mobile suit simulators and he was itching to pilot something, anything. The feeling of power he'd felt in a mobile suit still hadn't left him and even thinking about flying made his blood sing in his veins.

When he got to the hangar, he jumped off of the walkway he was standing on and floated down to Murdoch. "Chief Mechanic Murdoch sir, I was wondering if I could try my luck in the mobile suit simulators. I really wanna be a pilot."

Murdoch looked at him skeptically, but the pleading look on Sige's face quelled any arguments he might have made. "Sure kid, you can have a go. Besides, protocol states that anyone who wants to become a pilot or already is a pilot has access to the sims."

Sige smiled like he'd never smiled before and profusely thanked Murdoch. He climbed into the simulator and went about adjusting the settings. "Alright, I'll put the difficulty on easy and start off with a Lightning Dagger."

The simulator hatch closed and the lights dimmed. Sige was walked through all of the start-up sequences by the computer and easily grasped the basic controls and set-up. After he'd familiarized himself with the important controls and procedures, the computer simulated him launching out into a large desert area.

Sige flew around the simulated environment for a few minutes to get used to the Dagger's performance. Then, the computer began throwing enemy ZAKUs and GOUFs at him.

Two ZAKUs and a GOUF rushed him. Sige reacted instinctively and remembered the brief combat tips the computer had given him before start-up. "Okay, place the target reticule over the enemy and wait for it to go red and then fire." Sige raised the electromagnetic cannon that was the Lightning Dagger's main weapon and followed the simple procedure. He pulled the trigger and a high explosive round went sailing towards a GOUF.

His target did a barrel roll and the shot missed completely. The GOUF closed in with its beam sword and took a swing at Sige. The inexperienced pilot panicked and threw up the cannon to defend himself. The sword cut the barrel in half and caused the weapon to explode. Sige barely managed to get it out of his mobile suit's hands before it blew. Fortunately, it took the GOUF with it.

That left two ZAKUs. Sige fumbled around with the controls and managed to get out a beam saber. He feebly sliced at one, only to miss completely. The ZAKU slammed into him and unloaded its beam rifle into his cockpit. A message flashed across the screen. "SIMULATION FAILED. RETRY?"

Sige, feeling depressed, clicked "YES" and started the simulation again. This time, he managed to beat the first wave of enemies and made it halfway through the second. This success motivated Sige even more, and he kept practicing. After what seemed like an hour, he heard banging on the simulator door. Sige opened it up and saw a very annoyed Murdoch looking at him.

"Listen kid," he began, "I know you wanna be a good pilot, but you've been in there for four hours. Take a fucking break, will ya? I've got ten other pilots who wanna practice, but can't because of you."

Sige blinked in disbelief at the news. "What? I thought I'd only been in for an hour or so. I'm really sorry, I get out know. I probably smell really bad." Murdoch laughed and said, "Well, I wasn't gonna say anything. You go get a shower and a bite to eat. The sim will still be here when you get back."

Sige nodded and went of to take a shower and change into some fresh clothes. He wondered where Sven was. _I wonder a Sven will react when I tell him I'm gonna be a pilot?_, Sige thought. Sige didn't know it, but at that moment, Sven was occupied in Selene's room.

-+-

Amos walked out of the shower and changed into a fresh uniform. He sat down in front of his computer and began to watch the footage from the battle earlier today. Cmdr. Burrul had insisted that he review the battle to learn from his mistakes and to find weaknesses in the Sparrow pilot's fighting style.

After reviewing the tapes, Amos found that the Sparrow pilot seemed to prefer to keep the fight at range, much like the ancient fighter pilots of the 20th century. "If I could get in close, I could probably beat him." Amos grinned and set to work on developing a strategy to defeat the Sparrow.

Some hours later, Amos emerged from his room with bags under his eyes. He'd finally come up with a strategy, and he had decided to grab something to eat before showering and going to bed. He walked to the cafeteria and loaded a tray up with the spaghetti and meatballs that was being served for today's dinner.

Amos set down at a table and started eating. A short time after he'd almost choked on his third meatball, a tall woman came over and set her tray down next to him. "Amos, where have you been all day?" she asked.

Amos looked up from his food and smiled. "Hi Monica. I've been working on a way to take out the stolen Gundam. I finally found a strategy that works." Amos swallowed another bit and added, "So, how's it going in your squad?"

Monica brushed some of her golden blonde hair out of her face before replying, "Not good. My squad was torn to pieces by that black Gundam the rebels have. Me and Daniel were the only survivors. But, Captain Endrei promised that we'd get replacements as soon as possible. Other than that, everything's going fine, I guess."

Amos finished his food and stood up. "See ya, Monica. I'm wiped out. I'm gonna go catch a few Z's." Amos picked up his tray, lightly pecked Monica on the cheek, put his tray in a sink, and walked out of the cafeteria to the showers.

-+-

Sven pulled his shirt over his head and said goodbye to Selene. He left her room and headed to the hangar to practice on the sims. When he got there, he saw almost everyone in the hangar crowded around the simulators. He floated down there and tried to see what it was. He found Neo and said, "Neo, what is going on? Why's everyone crowded around the sim?"

Neo turned around with a grin on his face. "It appears Sige is hooked on piloting mobile suits. He's been training for the past two days and he's already on the hardest difficulty. Murdoch hooked up a view screen to the simulator so that everyone could watch. Take a look."

-+-

Sige flipped over a beam cannon blast and fired his cannon once. The Gunner ZAKU Warrior exploded as the high explosive shell tore through its armor. Sige drew a beam saber and cut the arm off of a passing GOUF. He turned around mid-flight and blew it apart with a missile strike.

The Lightning Dagger that had become Sige's best friend landed in the middle of the simulated battlefield. For the third time in a row, Sige had beaten the sim on hard.

Sige climbed out of the simulator and saw the crowd that had gathered to watch him. "Well, I didn't know I was this popular," Sige said as he walked over to Sige and Neo. The crowd, seeing that Sige's practice was over, quickly dispersed. "So," said Sige, "Captain Neo, have I proved that I'm good enough to pilot an MS?"

Neo was silent for a few moments; clearly he was just trying to annoy Sige. He smiled a little and said, "Yes, I think it's obvious that you're dedicated to becoming a pilot and you've worked hard to become one. I'll let you pilot a Dagger E. However, I'm warning you Sige. In real-life, you don't get to try again if you die."

-+-+-+-+-

Author's Note: Here's chapter four for any of you who have decided that this is a story that's good enough to read all the way through. Like I said last time, updates will be erratic, so bear with me. Yall just need to check back about once a month to see if I've updated any. And lastly, as usual, LEAVE A REVIEW OR I'LL HAVE CHUCK NORRIS HUNT YOU DOWN AND ROUNDHOUSE KICK YOU IN THE BALLS!


	6. Chapter 5: Descent into Hell

**CHAPTER FIVE: DESCENT INTO HELL**

-+-

_Shinn dived towards the Freedom, firing the Impulse's beam rifle again and again. He threw the weapon aside and slashed at his mortal foe with his beam saber. The Freedom spiraled away and fired a full burst from its weapons. Shinn's eye's narrowed and he separated the Impulse into its separate parts. The Chest Flyer and Leg Flyer exploded as beam and railgun fire tore into them. The Core Splendor escaped unscarred, however. _

_Shinn charged the Freedom, firing the small craft's missiles and machineguns. "You took Mayu away. Then you took away Stellar! I'm tired of you going around acting like you know what's right for mankind! I won't allow you to hurt anyone else the way you've hurt me!" Shinn yelled as he flew by the Freedom. He combined with the parts the Minerva had sent out and drew one of the beam sabers from the Force Silhouette. _

_Shinn slammed his saber against the Freedom's shield. He kicked it on the head and sliced off its right leg. "Die, you murderer!" Shinn screamed as he attacked his mortal foe. The Freedom fired another burst from its guns and Shinn ducked behind his shield. He threw it away and drew another saber. _

_The Freedom pilot fired its rifle at Shinn, but the Impulse pilot dodged out of the way. Shinn gritted his teeth and thought of Mayu, Stellar, and all the others the Freedom's pilot had killed. Behind his eyes, a red seed exploded. Shinn flew up next to the Freedom and swung his sabers. The Freedom blocked with its shield and fired its railguns. _

_Shinn and the Impulse flew backwards. "Minerva, send out the Sword Silhouette." The requested pack flew out from the Minerva's hangar. Shinn grabbed a beam boomerang and tossed it at the Freedom. The winged mobile suit threw up its shield. The boomerang hit the shield and cut it in half. _

_Shinn grabbed an anti-ship sword and moved in for the kill. He zoomed in and stabbed the Freedom through the torso. The sword ripped through the Freedom's armor plating with a satisfying shriek of metal against metal._

_Several hundred feet below, the Minerva and Archangel fired their positron cannons, resulting in a huge explosion. As the smoke cleared, only one mobile suit was standing: a badly damaged Impulse. A shattered remnant of the Freedom's head floated for a brief second on the water, before sinking down below the waves. _

-+-

Shinn gulped down the last bit of coffee in the Styrofoam cup and threw it out of the Destiny's cockpit. He cracked his neck and returned to rewriting the Gundam's OS to accommodate the new weapons that had been installed when the Minerva had docked at Solomon's Sword.

Shinn looked back at the stats sheet he'd printed out earlier. It showed all of the Destiny's new equipment and modifications. "Let's see, the beam cannon has been replaced with a beam launcher, and the sword's been modified with two beam edges," he said before turning back to the OS. "So, I should modify the power circuits so that the beam launcher gets less energy and the sword gets more." A few lines of code later, Shinn was almost done with his work. He finished modifying the OS and climbed out of the Destiny's cockpit.

Shinn brushed his black hair out of his eyes and picked up his uniform jacket from where he'd placed it on the handrail of the walkway that allowed him to get to his mobile suit. He walked out into one of the long halls that criss-crossed the ship and made his way to the showers. The Destiny's cockpit got really hot and Shinn was covered in sweat.

While in the shower, Shinn leaned against the tiled wall and thought about how glad he was to finally be back home in the PLANTS. For two years, he and the rest of the Minerva's crew had been scouring the space between Earth and Mars for a group of pirates that had been plaguing trading routes for over three years. Two months ago, they had finally exterminated them and had come home.

Then, barely an hour after they'd docked at Solomon; Gilbert had given them the task of hunting down another group of rebels that had managed to steal a prototype Gundam unit. Shinn got angry every time he thought of how a taskforce of highly trained soldiers let a bunch of insolent dogs attack a ZAFT fortress. So now, the Minerva had to clean up their mess. Shinn wouldn't even get to visit Mayu's grave in Aprilious.

-+-

Sige gazed in awe at Earth as it filled the giant glass window that made up an entire wall of the Croatian's observation deck. "Wow, I've never seen Earth in person before."

Beside him, Sven looked at him strangely. "What do you mean? You're a Natural, right?"

Sige, still looking at Earth, replied, "Yeah, but I was born and raised on Mars. I wasn't ever exposed to the racism between Naturals and Coordinators as a kid until the Earth Alliance occupation forces came in 72. Then, ZAFT came along and brought the war to Mars. My parents were killed when ZAFT mobile suits attacked the city where we were living. I think that was the first time I realized that I hated ZAFT. Anyway, it's nice to see Earth at long last. It really is beautiful."

Sven nodded and said, "I never knew that about you. I always thought you came to Mars with the other refugees after the war. I'm sorry about your lose."

Sige shook his head. "No, don't be. They died a long time ago. I've gotten over it."

-+-

The three remaining Neo-Nazca classes of Taskforce Jaeger sailed smoothly through the debris belt. They were heading on a direct intercept course with the two rebel ships. They knew where the Girty-Lues were heading, thanks to a tracking device that had been attached to one of them during the last battle by a brave ZAKU pilot shortly before the Strike Noir pilot had cut him down. Within three hours, the remaining sixteen ZAFT mobile suits would launch, ready to rip the Martian rebels apart.

In his quarters, Amos looked over his strategy one last time. "Yes, it will be perfect. The rebel dog won't know what hit him. I'll defeat the stolen Sparrow and we can finally begin crushing those pesky Martians into the dust."

Amos made some slight adjustments to his plan, and then uploaded it to the computer in his mobile suit. He shutdown his small laptop and leaned back in his chair. Amos thought back to why he was here now, on this ship, in ZAFT.

He'd been about eight years old when it had happened. His parents were taking him and his little sister for a drive through Orb's countryside. They had stopped at a gas station to fill up, and when the owner had learned that they were Coordinators, he'd shot and killed his parents and sister. Amos himself had been hit in the stomach, but he had hung on until the paramedics arrived. After that day, Amos was sent to the PLANTS to live with his aunt and uncle. At the age of nineteen, he'd enlisted in ZAFT and after three years of training, he was a redcoat serving in a highly exclusive ZAFT taskforce.

Shaking the memories off, Amos sat up and took a deep breath. "I'd better go see Monica. We haven't had a good talk in awhile," he said. Amos grabbed buttoned up his service jacket and walked down the hall of the ship to Monica's room.

Amos knocked lightly on her door. She didn't answer. He knocked again, slightly louder this time. Monica still wouldn't answer. Amos turned to walk away, think _'She must not be in right now. Oh well, I'll talk to her after the mission…if I come back.'_

Just before Amos walked away, the door slide open a crack, revealing Monica clad only in a bra and panties. "Hey Amos, what are you doing here?" she asked.

Amos, trying hard to keep his eyes Monica's face, stammered, "Well, I was wondering if we could just talk. After all, we're engaged and we barely know each other. That's all."

Monica smiled and let him in.

-+-

Neo sipped his mug of coffee and checked his watch. His shift would end in ten minutes and he could go and get some sleep. He settled into his seat and let the caffeine keep his eyes open.

He gazed at the black coffee swirling around in his mug with a half open eye. Andy had loved coffee, he'd even come out with his own brand after the first war. It had done marginally well, and Andy had brewed it every morning. Neo stopped that line of thought. Andy was dead. That was the end of the story. All of his friends were gone. Even Murrue.

Neo was draining his mug when warning sirens started blaring. He almost choked on his coffee as he yelled, "What the hell is going? Who's shooting at us?"

One of the bridge crew turned and said, "Sir, it appears a large volley of beam fire is approaching. Time till impact: 15 seconds."

Neo took a moment to regain his composure and said in a calm voice, "Move to starboard at maximum speed, then fire a return salvo back at the origin of the enemy fire. Prep all missile launchers to fire at my order. Order all pilots to launch."

-+-

Sige and Sven were snapped out of their reminiscing when the launch signal activated. They quickly got to the ready room, changed into their flight suits, and got into their respective mobile suits. Sven was the first to launch, with Sige right behind him. Sige brought his Dagger E up to hover near the Croatian's Gottfried cannons, ready to supplement his machine's firepower to theirs if the need arose.

"Hey, Sven, do you know what's going on?" Sige asked over the radio as the black and imposing shape of the Strike Noir settled into position to the right of the starboard catapult. The Gundam's head turned to look at Sige's Dagger as Sven replied, "I'm assuming that we're under attack. I guess those ZAFT bastards found us. We'll have to hold them off long enough to get into the atmosphere."

As the remaining Daggers filed out of the ship, Neo's voice crackled over the radio of each suit. "Listen, these ZAFT assholes picked the worst time to attack. In seven minutes, we'll be within Earth's atmosphere. Before you can get pulled down into it, fall back to the ships. In other words, return to your ship before they pass the point of no return. Good luck men."

-+-

Wolf slipped his helmet over his head and climbed into his Dagger. He started it up and flew out into space to join the other suits already standing by out there. Wolf brought the IWSP's weapons online and readied himself for the coming fight. The ZAFT ships had got the jump on them, firing their weapons from beyond the Croatian and Mohawk's visual or sensor range. _'Still, that begs the question: Why not follow through with that strike?'_ he thought grimly. ZAFT must have had something sneaky planned.

Wolf monitored the surrounding area, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. One of the Dagger pilots near him said, "Where are the bastards? Are they just gonna fire that one salvo?"

Wolf shook his head and replied, "No, they're up to something. Some of you go back and make sure they don't attack from behind."

Wolf had just finished saying this when his sensors picked up almost two dozen fast moving objects approaching from where the ZAFT fire had come from. "Too fast to be suits, but they're two big to be missiles," he said, "Mohawk, shoot those things down!"

-+-

Amos grinned as he and the other ZAFT mobile suits flew towards the rebels' ships. The plan was working perfectly. Each ZAFT suit was attached to a large rocket booster, allowing them to intercept the rebels at amazing speeds.

When they got close enough, they disengaged the boosters and fell upon the Martians. Before they knew what had hit them, the ZAFT forces were upon them. Amos himself cut down three Daggers with his beam saber before a single IWSP equipped Dagger rose to challenge him. Amos snarled and slashed at it with his beam saber.

The Dagger blocked with its anti-ship katana and countered with a burst of railgun fire. Amos easily moved out of the way and sliced at the Dagger again. It caught the saber on its Gatling shield and thrusted forward with its katana. Amos deflected it off his beam shield and drew his left arm's mounted beam gun. He fired several shots at the Dagger, all of which dissipated on its shield.

Wolf easily countered all of the ZAFT Gundam's attacks. He blocked a slice from the beam saber and slashed at the Gundam's chest with his katana. Wolf parried a blow from the saber and kicked the Sparrow away. Firing a salvo from the leg missile pods, Wolf turned and flew towards the inbound booster equipped ZAFT suits.

-+-

Sige blasted a ZAKU II apart with his mag cannon and dodged several beam shots from a Slash ZAKU II. He returned fire with his cannon and missiles before stowing the cannon and drawing his beam saber.

He slashed at the ZAKU and his enemy countered with its beam halberd. Sige and the ZAKU exchanged blows and the Martian finally caught a break when he sliced the ZAKU's right arm off.

Inside said ZAKU, Monica cursed. She activated her shield's large beam sword and stabbed at the enemy Dagger. Sige barely got out of the way of the weapon, but it still chopped his Dagger's left leg off. Sige punched the ZAKU away with his left arm and took off for another opponent.

He saw the ZAFT Gundam tear into two Daggers, disabling one and destroying the other. Sige fired several shots at it with his cannon to get its attention, and fired two missiles at it when it started coming towards him.

Amos shot the missiles down with his CIWS and chopped the Dagger's cannon in half with his saber. "Nice try, rebel, but your no match for me," Amos said, unaware that he was speaking over an open frequency.

Sige felt something flare up inside him as he heard the ZAFT soldier's words. He yelled back over the line, "I'm not gonna let a racist like you beat me. You, your country, and your entire corrupt regime are going down!" Sige blocked a saber swing and returned it with one of his own.

Amos blocked and exchanged several more hits with the Dagger. Judging by the pilot's voice, he couldn't be any older than twenty-one. What was he doing in a mobile suit? "Listen, I don't know where you got the idea that ZAFT is corrupt, but you're nothing more than a terrorist, a dog in other words. You and you're kind have to be killed."

Sige blocked a swipe from the Sparrow's saber and hit the machine in the head with his shield. "I might be a terrorist, but I'm still fighting for what's right. You damn Coordinators have no right to decide what someone's life is before they're even born! Go back to your palace's in the sky and burn in hell" Sige forced the Sparrow's saber away and struck a fierce blow to the enemy machine's frame, tearing a large gash in its chest that ran from its right shoulder to its left hip, just barely missing the suit's cockpit.

Amos pulled back as his Gundam was critically damaged. He retreated from the battlefield and fired a signal flare towards the ZAFT ships, signaling for them to pick him up. He hoped the other soldiers could finish the fight.

-+-

Sven sliced a ZAKU II in half with his Fragarach beam sword and blasted a salvo of missiles from a Blaze ZAKU with his linear guns. He did a backflip and fired his foot mounted grappling anchor at the ZAKU, catching it through the head. Sven pulled it in and sheathed his beam sword in its chest before it exploded.

Sven felt a slight pressure in the back of his head and turned to see a one-armed ZAKU II coming at him with its large beam sword raised. Before it could slice him in half, Sven kicked it away and sliced its left leg off with his beam sword. He fired his linear guns at it and was about to close in for a kill when three ZAKU IIs surrounded him.

Sven finished them off quickly enough, but the wounded Slash ZAKU II had evaded him. He decided to take out his frustration on a passing ZAKU.

-+-

Neo had been busy throughout the entire battle destroying incoming booster equipped ZAKUs with his Gunbarrels. He blasted his fifth kill for the day away, and recalled his remote weapons.

Neo looked at a timer on his monitor. In ninety seconds the ships would pass the point of no return. He opened a line to the ships and mobile suits. "All mobile suits, land in your ships, now! We're entering the atmosphere in seventy-three seconds. Croatian, Mohawk, please fire a salvo at the ZAFT suits as soon as our men are clear."

Neo wheeled his Gundam around and returned to the Croatian.

-+-

Sige landed his Dagger in the Croatian's hangar and climbed out of its cockpit. Removing his helmet from his head, Sige pushed his dark purple hair out of his eyes. He noticed Sven jump out of his cockpit and float over to Selene. The two embraced affectionately, and Sige thought _'Boy, those two must be soulmates. They look so happy together. I hope that I can share feelings like that with someone, one day.'_

Leaving the two alone, Sige entered the pilot's lounge and grabbed a Styrofoam cup and filled it with water. Taking a large gulp of it, he sat down on a couch and unzipped his flight suit's collar, exposing the sweat stained T-shirt he was wearing underneath.

Sige closed his eyes, allowing the adrenaline rush to wear off. He opened his eyes and saw Neo walk in. Sige jumped up to attention and saluted. Neo motioned for Sige to sit back down and asked, "So, how was your first battle? You did very well for your first time out."

Sige finished his water and responded, "It was a good challenge, but I encountered that Gundam ZAFT managed to hold on to. From your remarks about it, I thought it was a fierce machine with a pilot that fought like a tiger. He's a tiger alright. A paper tiger. He took a few blows and ran, like a weakling." As he spoke these words, Sige's eyes blazed with hatred that only he could understand.

Outside the iron and steel hull of the ship, the Croatian was following her comrade, the Mohawk, into the burning inferno of the atmosphere.

-+-

Author's Note: Well, I finally finished this chapter. Hope you all enjoy. Please, leave a review if you like the story. What do you think writers run on, caffeine?


	7. Chapter 6: This Cold Cruel World of Ours

**CHAPTER SIX: THIS COLD CRUEL WORLD OF OURS**

Two young children ran through the wheat fields outside the Eurasian village of DuBlanca, a town just seven miles away from the city of Lusitania. The two kids were having a simple little game of tag under the starry night sky.

The lead child ran up a small hill that separated the fields from the rolling plains of the countryside. He looked up into the sky and saw two huge shooting starts falling to Earth. His friend ran up the hill to meet him, and he too watched the stars fall from the sky. However, these were not stars. They were bringers of doom. For soon, the lives of these two children and those of their families would be torn apart by the ones who descended to the Earth that night.

-+-

The two Girty-Lue class ships Croatian and Mohawk landed gently in a large valley, somewhere in the middle of Eurasia. The two ships were black and scarred from their journey through the atmosphere, but otherwise intact.

Inside the Croatian, Sige Lunaris slept peacefully inside the cockpit of his Dagger E, having fallen into a deep sleep while working on its OS. Sige was dreaming peacefully, until he was awoken by the sound of two familiar voices. Opening his eyes, Sige peeked out of his machine's cockpit.

Sven and Selene were having a rather animated discussion, and their voices were just barely audible to Sige if he strained himself. Sven made a gesture and said, "Listen Selene, you know that I have feelings for you, but I don't know where you got the idea that I was in love with you. We agreed from the start that it was a relationship of convenience. You'd just lost Sol; I'd just lost Mudi. There weren't any real feelings there. We both know that."

Selene looked hurt. She tried to stroke Sven's face, but he pushed her hand aside. "Sven, we've been together for six years. For six years, we've shared our lives with each other, and now you want to throw it all away? I thought…Well I thought you might have gotten over Mudi and begun to love me. I guess I can never replace her. Not in your eyes anyway. I'm sorry I couldn't fill the gap in your heart, Sven." Selene turned and sprinted away, and Sige saw tears streaming down her face.

Sven looked after her for a moment, before turning and leaving through another door. Sige sat back in the Dagger's cockpit and thought things over. His view of Sven and Selene's relationship had just been radically altered. Apparently, both had been in relationships that didn't work out too well, and had drifted towards each other as a way to lick they're wounds.

Sige pulled the blanket he'd taken from the pilot's lounge around him tightly. Eurasia was bitterly cold, after-all. He closed his eyes and tried to forget about what he'd just heard. Soon enough, he was in dreamland, where his parents were still alive.

-+-

Sven hadn't gone back to his quarters after his spat with Selene. He couldn't. They shared the same room, and the last thing he needed now was to see her. Sven laid down on the couch in the pilot's lounge and pulled a blanket over his shoulders. Unable to fall asleep, he thought back to why he and Selene had wound up together anyway.

After she'd pulled him from the wreckage of the Strike Noir, she'd used that silver wonder machine of hers to fly them to somewhere around Venus. Once they were out of the combat zone, Selene had treated his wounds as best she could.

On the return trip to Earth, there hadn't been much to do except talk, and they'd gradually found that they shared a lot in common. After Sven had been picked up by an Alliance ship and Selene had gone back to the PLANTS, the two had kept in touch. Once ZAFT had taken over, Sven and Selene had been key members of the movement that had eventually given birth to the Adepts, or as they were better known, the Resistance.

Still, even though Sven deeply cared for Selene, he could not love her. He couldn't love anyone after he'd let the last person he'd truly loved die. Finally, sleep claimed Sven. As he drifted off, he mumbled three simple words, "I…love you…"

-+-

Neo finished off his mug of coffee and sat down on his bunk. He reached over to his desk and picked up a picture of Murrue that had been taken before the second war. Neo fought back the tears as he remembered how, in that final battle, he hadn't been able to stop the rampaging Destiny from blowing a hole in the Archangel's bridge. He had tried his hardest to keep her safe, and he still failed. That was all he was, a failure.

Lying on his bed, Neo moved past the memories of Murrue and to how he'd ended up on a Girty-Lue class in the middle of Eurasia as a member of a rebellion. It had all started about a year after the war ended. He'd managed to hook up with some survivors after Messiah, and they'd gone to Mars. He had drifted in the Martian colonies until he had met Selene and Sven. They and a few others managed to get the Resistance up and running, and they'd eventually gotten to the point they were at now.

_Still, that doesn't explain why I even decided to join these people. I have nothing left to live for. What is driving me to keep fighting ZAFT?_, He thought. Even as he said the words in his head, he saw in image of that dark gray mobile suit, the Legend, as it tore through Orb forces. Its pilot was another one of his father's clones. Neo grimaced as he thought of Al Da Flaga, and how much he hated him. Neo realized that he fought to eradicate any trace of that madman, even himself.

-+-

In the city of Lusitania, just fifty miles from where the Mohawk and Croatian crashed, the command headquarters of Commander Fang Graymount was a buzz with activity. The head-honcho himself was in the midst of it, preparing for an attack on the Eurasian Liberation Front.

Fang angrily punched the computer screen before him, cracking it. "God Dammit! The BABIs and GOUFs won't be here for another Goddamned week. Marcus!" he shouted, calling for his assistant. The balding Lt. that served as Fang's punching bag slash assistant hurried over to his superior's side.

"Yessir," Marcus said tentatively, "The new units won't be here for awhile. Apparently there was a large battle in orbit between some Martian rebels and several ZAFT ships which delayed the delivery."

Fang's anger continued to rise. "Why wasn't I informed of this? We need those suits to finally deal a killing blow to those rebels in the mountains," Fang barked, referring to the Eurasian revolutionaries that had a base in the mountains ten miles from the city, "Our BuCUE Ys can't traverse mountainous terrain. You know this, Marcus."

Marcus brace himself for the tongue lashing that was sure to come. "Sir, I told you this yesterday, just before you ran the training drills in the BuCUEs. I tried to get them to arrive sooner, but they were adamant about re-supplying the fleet that engaged the rebels." Marcus monitored Fang's face in case his superior was about to explode.

However, instead of going on a rampage, Fang was thinking things over. It wasn't his anger that had gotten a hold of him, it was his ambition. "Marcus, do you know if those rebels descended to Earth after the battle?"

Marcus consulted the data pad that he constantly carried with him. "It appears they did land in Eurasia. The computer says that they've landed about twelve miles from Kasselheim, a small village south of here."

Fang grinned devilishly. "Marcus, have the troops keep an eye out for any signs of those rebels. We'll eliminate them and those Eurasians within the month, and I'll be promoted to commander-in-chief of ZAFT's Eurasian forces."

-+-

Sige gulped down the remainder of his orange juice and looked down at his bacon and eggs. Or, as he preferred to call them, microwaved horseshit. The Croatian's food was little better than vitamin rich gunk, but he had to eat it to live. Sige was pondering whether to eat his remaining food or throw it away when he saw Sven enter the cafeteria.

Sige stood up and walked over to his friend. Whispering, he asked, "Sven, how's it going? You okay man?" Sige waited for his buddy's reply, worried that Sven might be really depressed…

…instead Sven was angry, very angry. Sven's arm flew out and grabbed Sige by the collar of his shirt. Lifting the young Martian off the ground, Sven glared into Sige's eyes menacingly. "Why don't you mind your own God damned business, you little punk?"

Sven dropped Sige onto the floor and stalked out of the cafeteria, leaving a stunned Sige sitting on the floor.

-+-

Meanwhile onboard the Mohawk, Wolf was going about his business as normal. He had just finished eating in the cafeteria and was now in the gym lifting weights. As he pushed the 150lbs of weight upwards in another rep, he thought back to why he was here fighting with people who'd tried to kill him six years ago.

He flashed back to the battle of Messiah and shuddered as he remembered the way his mobile suit had exploded. He'd barely survived and was on life support for a year before he was able to get out of bed. That was a far cry from the shape he was in now.

Wolf remembered that he'd been chosen as the Mohawk's captain because of his family, but that was nothing to brag about. He still had scars to remind him of what his family had done to him. More specifically, what his father had done to him.

Wolf finished working out and sat up on the weight bench. He was wiping the sweat from his eyes when a young ensign came up to him. "Sir," he began," Your presence is requested on the bridge. It's the Croatian, sir."

Wolf nodded and put back on his shirt, covering his scars. He stood up, grabbed his bottle of water and walked with the ensign to the elevator that led to the bridge. Inside the elevator on the way up, Wolf noticed the young ensign was staring at his chest, no doubt because of his multitude of scars.

"Ensign, what are you staring at?" Wolf asked, hoping to bait the young man into a conversation. The elevator to the Mohawk's bridge was notoriously slow.

The ensign paled and said, "Sir, I was just wondering how you got all those scars. It was rude of me to stare."

Wolf smiled and said, "It's alright. You're not the first and you won't be the last. I got these scars back in the war, when my mobile suit took an anti-ship sword to the face during the battle at Messiah. I barely escaped, and spent almost two years in a hospital bed. It was my own fault for letting myself to get chopped up like that. I guess these scars are what I deserve for getting distracted."

The elevator reached its destination and Wolf stepped out onto the bridge. The main view-screen showed Neo and Sven's faces. Wolf plopped down in his captain's chair and non-chalantly took a swig of his water before saying, "So, what do you need from me?"

Neo visibly shuddered at Wolf's attitude. "Wolf, you know I hate it when you act like a damned schoolboy. As you know, we've landed somewhere in Eurasia, about fifty miles away from a city known as Lusitania. Coincidently, it appears that the Eurasian Liberation Front has strong support here. Would you be willing to go into the city, along with Sven and Sige, to try and make contact with them?"

Wolf nodded and said, "Sure. I've seen footage of them, and they'd be much better friends than enemies. When should we leave?"

Sven spoke up this time. "We can leave anytime. The sooner the better." Wolf nodded and noticed that Sven's voice seemed different. What had happened to him top make him sound like he was about to fall apart?

-+-

Author's Note: Finally, I've finished the latest chapter. You might notice that this one was a lot slower paced than the others, and contained no action. This was intentional, and Sorrow will keep this pace for the rest of the story. I felt like I was getting too much action and not enough character development, which is what Sorrow is really all about. Peace out all, R&R!


	8. Chapter 7: Allies and Enemies

**CHAPTER SEVEN: ALLIES AND ENEMIES**

The small military jeep wound its way around yet another hill. Sige, lying in the back seat, scanned the crumpled map they'd brought along. "Good Lord, we've been driving for three hours and we're still not there yet? The city was supposed to be just fifty miles from where we'd landed. Any reason why it's taking so fucking long, Wolf?"

Wolf, who'd been driving, turned around and said, "It's either one of two reasons. One, we're lost. Two, we're avoiding any sort of military position. Pick which ever one you like."

Sige replied, "Why do I get the distinct feeling that the one about military positions is pure bullshit and that you've gotten us lost in ZAFT territory?" As he said this, he stood up in the back of the jeep and looked around, "There's nothing but plains for miles. We're screwed."

Wolf violently swerved the jeep around a curve in the road, almost throwing Sige out of the jeep. "Didn't your mother ever tell you that you never stand up in a fast moving vehicle? Besides, the map says there's a small village a mile or two to the east. We'll head there and see if we can get some directions."

Sige sat back down and replied, "So, you're going to drive us into the middle of a village we now nothing about and ask for directions to a city crawling with ZAFT forces. Brilliant idea."

Wolf, tired of this bickering, said, "Alright. Let's let Sven decide whether we ask for directions, or we keep driving."

Wolf and Sige looked at Sven, who'd been silent for the entire ride. After about a minute of waiting, he quietly said, "Wolf's idea is the best one. We'll stop at this village. Besides, we're low on gas."

Wolf nodded and took a left at the next fork in the road. "We should be there in about thirty minutes."

-+-+-

Onboard the Nazca-class ship _Kirov_, Yzak Joule angrily drummed his fingers on the arm of his captain's chair. Turning to his second-in-command, Dearka Elsman, he said, "What the hell is taking them so long? That transport should've been here an hour ago! Graymount won't be happy about this."

Dearka leaned against the wall. "Calm down Yzak. The transport's probably got a bunch of rookies on it. You know how long it takes them to do anything. Besides, Graymount's just a bag of hot air. He gets worked up over everything. He should be grateful. We're bringing those BABIs and GOUFs that he's been bitching about for a month."

Yzak sighed. _Dearka, how can you be so laid back all the time?_ Yzak popped his neck, a habit he'd gained during the last war, and said, "Dearka, even if he is a pain in the ass, Graymount is still our superior officer. We have to-''

Yzak was cut off by one of the communications officers. "Sir, the transport ship _Constantine_ has opened hailing frequencies. Shall I put them on the main view screen?"

Nodding, Yzak prepped himself to deliver a tongue lashing to the captain of the _Constantine_…

…said captain was a certain brown haired violet eyed girl Yzak knew all too well. "Oh fuck," he said under his breath. Out loud he said, "Shiho, nice to see you. I hope you have a reasonable explanation for being late. You always seem to."

Shiho gritted her teeth and said, "We had to re-supply Taskforce Jaeger. They'd encountered a group of rebels. You see Yzak, that's what real soldiers do, fight battles. You just sit in your captain's chair and talk with your life partner over there."

"You wanna say that to my face?" Yzak growled. Shiho always pressed his buttons, even when they'd been dating.

"I did say that to your face," came Shiho's curt reply, "Can we please get this whole thing over with? I hate having to look at you."

"Fine by me," Yzak said. Turning to the helmsman, he said, "Begin the descent into Eurasia. Use the _Kirov_ to provide a shield for the _Constantine_."

The two ships adjusted their courses and began to descend into the atmosphere.

-+-+-

Sige let out a sigh of relief when they spotted the small village of Kasselheim. They slowed down and stopped next to two kids on bicycles. Sige motioned them over and asked, "Can you two give us directions to Lusitania?"

One of the kids nodded and said, "We could, but there's a big storm brewing. You'd never make it to the city before it hit. You're best option would be to find some shelter for the night."

Wolf said, "You know where we could find a place to stay then?"

The kid shrugged and said, "You could come back to our place. It's just up the road a bit. I'm sure mom wouldn't mind a few guests."

Wolf started up the jeep and said, "Lead the way." The kid and his brother got onto their bikes and started riding towards a house down the street. Wolf followed and soon they were at the boys' house.

As they got out of the car, rain startled to pelt the three. Sven, throwing up his arm to shield himself, said, "I just _love_ the Eurasian climate. No, really, I absolutely love it."

Wolf was the first to reach the small porch of the house. Motioning at Sven and Sige, he yelled over the heavy patter of rain, "Get over here now. This is like a freaking hurricane or something."

Sige and Sven hurried inside along with Wolf. Taking off their soaked jackets, they stood in the foyer, waiting for someone to come and show them to where they'd be staying for the night.

Wolf was the first to speak, as always. "It was really generous of them to let us stay here. I wonder what we'll be having for dinner."

Sige replied, "Probably nothing. We're imposing on these people. We should leave and find someplace else to stay." As Sige said that, a tremendous roar of thunder sounded out.

"Yeah, like I'm going back out in that," Wolf said scornfully. Then, he noticed what Sige had been wearing under his jacket. "What the hell? Why are you wearing an OMNI Enforcer belt? Are you trying to give us away?"

Sige shrugged. "So what? I'm sure you heard about all of the Earth Alliance personnel that wore the belts of dead ZAFT soldiers. Why should this be any different?"

"Maybe because we're in a hot bed of ZAFT military bases. Holy crap, Sige, do you ever think at all?" Wolf shot back, "You're gonna end up getting us all killed."

The sound of a cocked gun interrupted the conversation.

The three men turned to see the boy from earlier holding a rifle on them. Behind him, a middle-aged woman held a large revolver on them. "Why are you here? Why are you bringing talk of death and ZAFT into my house?" she demanded.

Sven, apparently unfazed, said, "Madam, please put down the weapons, and allow my comrades and I to explain ourselves. I promise you, we wish you no harm, and only request a place to stay for the night."

Sven's calm demeanor seemed to calm the woman down. Lowering her gun, she said, "Come into the kitchen. There is much to discuss."

The five people went into the house's small kitchen and sat down at the rectangular wooden table in the center of the room. The woman, sitting across from Wolf, said, "My name is Marin Decelia, and my son, Christophe, says that you three are mobile suit pilots."

Sige chuckled hesitantly. "Where would your son get that kind of idea?"

Marin replied, "He said you walk like his father, Miguel Decelia."

Wolf nudged Sven. "Isn't that the name of the Eurasian Resistance leader?" Sven thought for a moment before asking Marin, "Tell me, is your husband a member of the Resistance forces in this area"

Marin shook her head. "Miguel is not my husband. My husband died long ago, when ZAFT forces occupied our homeland."

"Why did you pull a gun on us?" Sven questioned, "All we want is a place to stay."

Marin cradled her head in her hands. "Miguel joined the rebels hiding in the mountains to the west. He and the other rebels have caused ZAFT nothing but trouble. There is a bounty on any mobile suit pilots that are not affiliated with ZAFT. My family needs the money. I have to work as a maid, and barely make ends-meat. We wanted to turn you in."

"Then why didn't you shoot us and bring our bodies to the ZAFT forces? Why are you talking with us?"

"There was something about you and your companions. A…feeling, an instinct, that I had about you. I feel, greatness, in you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sven questioned. This woman was strange, yet intriguing.

"I can't explain it, but I feel like I have to help you. I've never felt this way before, but I feel a compulsion to help you."

Sige coughed noticeably. "Listen," he said, "All this talk of feelings and greatness is really nice, but can we stay here for the night or not? I'd rather get an answer to that question before you go back to talking about your feelings."

Marin frowned. "Yes, you may stay here until the storm passes. But as for my talk of greatness, I feel that you will know what I'm talking about more than any of your comrades." She stood up and motioned towards a set of stairs off to the right. "There is a guest room up those stairs. You may stay there for the night. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go back to bed."

The three mobile suit pilots walked up the stairs and found three beds, all ready to be slept in. Wolf plopped down on one and said, "Weird. It's almost like she knew we were coming. Oh well, all the better for us."

-+-+-

The Resistance jeep slowed down as it neared the entrance to the city of Lusitania and a ZAFT checkpoint. Wolf pulled up next to the checkpoint and smiled at the expressionless ZAFT guard who was running the checkpoint. "Officer, what can I do for you?"

The guard signaled to several other soldiers, who came over with three search dogs, and said to Wolf, "Sir, will you and your companions please step out of the jeep while my men search it? I'd also like to ask you several questions."

The three stepped out and the dogs began to sniff around the jeep. The guard pointed at Sige and said, "Why are coming to the city?"

Sige quickly and seamlessly replied, "We're here on business, sir. My colleagues and I have come here to purchase some building materials for our town. We've recently begun construction on a new church, and we need some supplies that can't be found anywhere but here."

The guard, not missing a beat, questioned, "What do you need?"

"We need about 1000 square feet of tile, paint, and insulator," Sige replied. He obviously knew what he was doing, and he was fairly convincing.

"And how where you going to transport these supplies in that small jeep?"

"Well, we're planning to rent a trailer to carry all of the supplies in." Sven and Wolf could barely contain their shock as Sige answered all of the guard's questions seamlessly and without missing a beat.

The guard paused for a moment, then said, "Alright, you can enter the city."

Sige, Sven, and Wolf got back into the jeep and drove into the city. Once they got far enough from the checkpoint, Sven said, "Sige, how'd you come up with that little story?"

Sige leaned back in his seat and said, "That little town we stayed at last night, it's called Kasselheim, and they're building a new church in it. I just used that as our reason for needing to visit the city."

Wolf chuckled. "Leave it to Sige to notice something like that. Anyway, Neo said that we're meeting the rebel contact in a bar called the 'Dirty Boy'. Sounds charming."

"Yeah, well we need allies, so we'd better be on time for this meeting," Sven said as they rounded a corner and had to swerve to avoid another car, "Jesus Christ, Wolf! What're you trying to do, kill us?"

"No, I'm trying to get us to the bar on time. They said to meet them there at 11:35, and its 11:20 now and the bar is on the other side of the city."

Sige leaned forward and said, "Drive man, drive!"

-+-

Author's Note: Well, I finally got this chapter done. Hope everyone enjoys it. I have a feeling I left a few plot twists a little obvious, but maybe I didn't. Read and Review.


End file.
